Daily coverage from an Along Track Scanning Radiometer

Typical coverage of sea surface temperature data from 1 day from the Along Track Scanning Radiometers (ATSRs). The colour swaths correspond to the SSTs obtained with the sun below the horizon, and using channels at three wavelengths. (Red colours are warm SSTs and blue/violet are cool, for illustrative purposes.) The grey swaths show the SST data obtained with the sun above the horizon, and therefore “day-time” retrievals using channels at two wavelengths. Gaps along swaths indicate pervasive cloud cover preventing SST estimation. Gaps between swaths are areas not observed by the satellite during this day. The pattern of swaths is shifted longitudinally on each consecutive day, such that the pattern of swaths shown approximately repeats every 3 days, although there were exceptions to this “3-day pseudo-repeat” configuration during some phases of the ATSR-1 mission. From Merchant et al., "Sea surface temperature datasets for climate applications from Phase 1 of the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative (SST CCI)", Geoscience Data Journal, 2014.